Demons & Humans
by lil'japanime
Summary: Sequel to 'After Twelve Years'. InuYasha and Kagome's children are growing up... Shirrow wants a girlfriend & what's this about Noriko and Koga's son, Inari?
1. Six Years Later

**CHAPTER ONE: Six Years Later…**

InuYasha lazily opened his eyes as he lay back against the trunk of the tree he was sitting in. It was a hot, midsummer day. He didn't feel like getting up, but he knew Kagome would chastise him for lying around all day. He sighed and jumped down from the high branches, deciding to find out what everyone else was up to.

It had been six years since he had killed Tarumaru. His and Kagome's three children had grown. Shirrow, now 17, had begun learning swordsmanship from his father. He practiced with a human sword instead of his father's Tetsusaiga. InuYasha refused to let him use it until he said so, much to Shirrow's chagrin.

Noriko, now 13, was becoming quite the young lady. ((A/N: Everyone calls her 'Nori' now.)) She spent much of her time with her mother while she helped the injured villagers or at her grandmother's house in the future. When she wasn't with either of them, she was with her newest friend, Inari, the only son of Koga and Ayame. InuYasha didn't approve of her friendship with the young wolf prince, but he couldn't stand telling his only daughter 'no', so he allowed it grudgingly. But that didn't mean he wouldn't give the young wolf a hard time.

The youngest in the family, Kotaro, was now 8 years old. He still spent most of his time following InuYasha around and still dressed like him. He had also became best friends with Miroku and Sango's daughter, Sakura, which Kagome claimed to be the cutest thing ever. Other then that he spent his time following Shirrow around, which annoyed his older brother to no end.

After wandering around the clearing and not seeing any of his kids, InuYasha headed inside to find Kagome. She was busily going about doing her chores which she did every afternoon, like making her and InuYasha's bed, fixing dinner, cleaning up a few things, etc. The half demon came up behind her as she wiped the dust off of a photo album sitting on a shelf and wrapped his arms around her. She smiled.

"Hey InuYasha..."

He grunted in response and kissed her neck, making Kagome giggle.

"Did you finally decide to get off your butt and help around the house?"

"Feh..." He walked over to where their lunch was cooking and poked at it with a spoon. "What're we eating?"

Kagome rolled her eyes as she walked over to take the spoon away. She sat next to him by the fire pit. "Don't poke it!" She set the spoon down next to her. "It's chicken that Mom told me I could bring back here." She sighed. "She said that she wouldn't really need all of it since Gramps passed away last year and Sota's away at school most of the time..."

InuYasha placed his hand on top of hers. "You know that you can visit your mother as much as you want... I know you worry about her."

"I know... it's just I get caught up with everything I have to do around here..."

He crossed his arms. "So have the kids help out! You're too soft with them. All they do are a few things in the morning and go off by themselves by noon. Shirrow and Kotaro can clean, and Noriko knows how to cook, you need some time to yourself!"

"And what about you?"

"Huh?"

Kagome crossed her arms now. "Well aren't you going to help out too?"

He sighed in defeat. "Yeah, fine... I'll help too."

She smiled. "Good. That's the right answer."

She got back up to find some spices to put on the chicken. InuYasha watched as she sorted through her collection of modern era spices. She found what she was looking for but it was too high for her to reach. InuYasha stood up, walked over and handed it to her, then looked out the window as she sprinkled some on the chicken.

"So where're the kids?"

Kagome glanced at him, then back at the food before answering with a smile. "You were sleeping longer than I thought!"

"Feh..."

"Shirrow walked Kotaro over to the village so he could go to Sakura's house. ((A/N: ok so Miroku, Sango, Mushin, and Sakura moved into the village so that there would be more protection from demons close by.)) He said something about going somewhere to practice fighting with his sword with Mushin since he's learning too. And Noriko's with... umm... with a friend."

InuYasha growled and looked at Kagome. "She's with that wolf-boy again, isn't she?"

She sighed. "Don't get all bent out of shape. They're just friends."

"Yeah, that's what you say now. But what if that changes later on? I don't want that wolf in the family."

"What's wrong with that? It's not like he's trying to steal me away from you any more, so relax. If Nori and Inari want to be friends, let them." She sprinkled more spice on the chicken.

"Yeah? Well, now's he's just angry 'cause he couldn't get you, so now his only chance to get into the family is getting his son to seduce our DAUGHTER!"

"You're so paranoid! Inari and Nori are just friends, InuYasha. What are the chances that they'll marry?"

"Feh!" He crossed is arms and looked away. "I'd rather that we don't take that chance."

Kagome sighed and shook her head. "Well, if it bothers you so much then go watch them. But I'm warning you, if you do it might push them closer together..."

InuYasha scoffed and walked towards the door.

"Tell Nori to be home in time for dinner."

He stopped and turned around sharply. "I'm not going to spy on them! I'm gonna see how Shirrow's doing practicing with Mushin. That's all!"

Kagome suppressed a giggle as he turned and walked out the door. _He's such a baby sometimes..._

"C'mon, Mushin! At least TRY to attack!"

Shirrow was getting frustrated. Mushin was his best friend but he was no where near being a good training partner.

_If Dad wasn't being lazy and sleeping all day, I could be training with him instead! I guess I can't blame Mushin, though... I mean, he's only a human... _Shirrow sighed. "Mushin, you're supposed to be helping me!"

"Well, quit going so fast! I can't keep up with you and you know it!"

"If I go slow then how am I s'posed to get better?"

Suddenly a hand grabbed the hilt of Shirrow's sword, allowing Mushin to get a clean hit with his. He got a cut on his side, which fueled Shirrow's frustration.

"OW! Dammit, Mushin! What was that for?"

"What? I didn't mean-!"

THWACK! Shirrow fell to his knees and rubbed the newly acquired lump on the back of his head.

"Shut up. You know your mother hates it when you swear." Shirrow looked up to see his father still holding his sword in his hand. "Get up. I didn't hit you THAT hard."

Shirrow growled, stood up abruptly and grabbed his sword out of his father's hand. "Why'd you grab my sword? I might be half demon but it still hurts when my side gets sliced open!"

"It's not like it won't be healed by the time we get home. It's not even that deep of a cut."

"Keh..."

"Why're you training with Mushin anyway? You could win a fight with him with your eyes closed!"

"Hey!"

InuYasha turned to look at the 17 year-old boy. His clothes were disheveled from the training, and his black hair, which he had tied back in a pony tail much like his late uncle, Kohaku, had become a mess. "What? You know it's true. It's not like it's your fault for being human."

Mushin rolled his eyes. He was used to InuYasha's constant put-downs about not being as strong as Shirrow.

"Mushin!"

Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice. They saw Kotaro running towards them with the 7 year-old Sakura. The young girl had grown to be very cute. She had long brown hair tied back like her mother's and wore light blue, sleeveless kimono that went down to her knees, with a pink sash around her waist. She was the one that had called to them.

"What is it, Sakura?" her brother asked as she latched on to him in a hug.

She looked up at him with her bright blue eyes. "Mama says you have to come home, because she's leavin' with Daddy soon."

"Okay."

InuYasha's ears perked up. He looked curiously at Sakura and Mushin. "Where're they goin'?"

Mushin let his little sister climb on to his back for a piggyback ride. "They're going to the village south of here to get a few things, so I'm watching Sakura for the night."

"Yeah," she agreed happily from his shoulders. "And we're gonna have lotsa fun!

Mushin smiled playfully at his sister, the looked back at Shirrow. "Anyway, I'll see you later, Shirrow. I guess I gotta get home."

Shirrow looked at his father. "Yeah, I guess we're goin' too." He turned and started to walk away with InuYasha and Kotaro. "See ya..."

After a few minutes of walking, InuYasha turned to Shirrow. "So what do you think about this whole thing with Nori and wolf-boy?"

Shirrow turned to his father curiously, then returned his attention to getting home. "I dunno... I don't really see why it matters. They're just friends, right?"

Kotaro jumped on to InuYasha's shoulders for a piggyback ride. "Nori says that she likes Inari, and that he likes her back!" Shirrow's and InuYasha's ears perked up.

"Yeah? And what do you think of him?"

The 8 year-old thought for a moment before answering. "I like him. He doesn't beat me up." He shot a nasty glare at Shirrow, who rolled his eyes.

InuYasha looked up at the sky. They still had time before dinner was usually ready. "Let's go see what Nori and wolf-boy are up to."

"Umm... like, spy on them?" asked a curious Kotaro.

"Umm... like, yeah." InuYasha turned to look at his younger son. "Why? Got a problem with spying?"

"Mom says it's not a nice thing to do."

InuYasha chuckled. "Well, Mom isn't here right now, is she?"

Shirrow smirked. "Yeah, and she won't find out if a certain someone keeps his mouth shut. Get it?"

Kotaro rested his chin on his father's head between his ears. "Okay... I won't tell Mom. I promise."

InuYasha raised a hand to ruffle the 8 year-old's silvery hair. "That's my boy. Now let's hurry before it gets too late."


	2. Enter, Inari the WolfBoy

**CHAPTER TWO: Enter, Inari the Wolf-Boy**

"How come your dad hates me so much, Nori?"

Noriko looked up from the herbs she was gathering. They were sitting by a small waterfall not too far from the village. Inari was sitting on a large rock at the water's edge. There were many useful herbs that grew there, so Noriko decided to bring some back for her mother to use. She smiled at Inari's question.

"He doesn't hate you. He's just being overprotective. It all has to do with your dad trying to steal Mom away from him."

"Yeah, I know that. But I'm not like my dad. He's too full of himself sometimes... All he does is talk about how great a demon he is and how he deserved your mom more than your dad does and stuff like that..." Then with a smirk he added, "It really annoys Mom."

Noriko giggled and stared at the young wolf prince as he watched the fish swimming at his feet. Inari was 14. He wore almost the same outfit as Koga except both of his wrist bands were short instead of having different lengths. His black hair was pulled back into a pony tail, but wasn't nearly as long as his father's, and more bangs hung in front of the bandana he wore. He had his mother's kind heart, and his father's steel-blue eyes. Noriko could stare at him for hours.

Inari turned to see he was being watched and smirked. "You're doing it again."

The flustered half demon came out of her trance like state. "W-what?"

"You were staring at me again... Am I really that good-looking?" His smile widened.

Noriko walked over and sat next to him, slightly leaning against his shoulder. His tail waved in the breeze.

"I guess so..." She smiled up at him and his heart melted on the spot. He closed his eyes, put an arm around her and held her close. Or at least, he thought he held her close...

"Gee, Inari. I didn't think I was your type."

The wolf prince opened his eyes to see Shirrow smirking back at him. His eyes widened as he quickly ripped his arm from around the older boy, and struggled to stand as quickly as possible. He slipped on the wet, rocky surface and fell into the waist-deep water. He resurfaced and shook water from his eyes to see Shirrow laughing from his perch on the rock. InuYasha was chuckling off to the side with a giggling Kotaro and a furious Noriko.

A low growl escaped Inari's throat. _How dare they embarrass me like that! And in front of Nori, too!_

He was about to tell them exactly what he thought of them, but Noriko beat him to it.

"I can't believe you guys! How could you do something so insensitive?"

Kotaro hid behind his father's legs.

"Aw, c'mon, Nori..." Shirrow said as he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. ((A/N: ooh! we have a multitasker!)) "We were just having fun..."

"Yeah? Well, it might've been fun for you, but what about Inari?" She pointed at the soaked wolf who had gotten out of the water and was standing as far from Shirrow as he could without leaving Noriko. "Apologize to him!"

"Keh..." He closed his eyes and turned away stubbornly.

"NOW, Shirrow! I mean it!"

Shirrow jumped up and glared at his sister. "Why should I? He'll dry off!"

"You shouldn't have done anything to him in the first place!"

"A little water ain't gonna kill him!"

InuYasha stood between his oldest son and daughter. "Quit fightin', alright? You're both being stupid!" They ignored him.

"I still want you to apologize!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Make me!"

"ENOUGH!"

The arguing siblings finally noticed their father. By which I mean their thoroughly frustrated father that really just wanted to give Inari a hard time before going home to eat... Not give Inari a hard time and have it result in everyone yelling so loud that his ears rang.

"I don't wanna have to listen to this the whole way home, so either you two quit arguing and make up, or neither of you get dinner."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment before simultaneously turning away and crossing their arms. Shirrow spoke first.

"Keh... That's not gonna make me apologize! I'll just get my own food at the village!"

"Well I'm not apologizing either! I'll just stay at Grandma's, she'll give me something to eat, AND a place to sleep so that I don't have to see any STUPID brothers!"

InuYasha frowned slightly. _This isn't going as planned... They were supposed to back down! _He sighed and looked at his oldest son. "Well, then since you wanna get your own food, then you can just camp out then, too. I don't want to see either of you at home until you make peace with each other."

He took Kotaro's hand in his and started to head home. His ears perked up and he listened. Inari was talking now...

"Hey, Nori, listen... If you want you can come stay at the den with me, Mom, and Dad... I'm sure they wouldn't mind--"

"She said she would stay with her grandmother, wolf-boy! Or are you deaf?"

Inari flinched from the enraged half demon's sudden outburst and backed away from Noriko slightly. He stammered out an 'I'll see you later, Nori.' before disappearing in a cloud of dust as he hightailed it back to the wolf den. InuYasha smirked and started walking off towards home again with Kotaro, leaving his son and daughter to either make peace, or go separate ways. It didn't take them long to decide as they 'hmphed' and parted angrily with Noriko heading towards the well and Shirrow heading towards the village.

"I'm back, Kagome! Where's dinner? I'm starved!"

Kagome walked into the hall to greet them. Kotaro ran up to give her a hug. InuYasha leaned over his son to give her a kiss. ((A/N: awww!))

"So where are Nori and Shirrow?" she asked as she turned to check on dinner. It was almost ready.

"Dad told them they couldn't come home until they made peace with each other."

She stopped in her tracks and turned to stare at him in disbelief. "InuYasha! How could you say that? Where are they going to stay? You know how stubborn they both are!"

He walked over and pulled her close. "C'mon, Kagome. They can take care of themselves..." She continued to glare. He sighed. "Nori's staying with your mom, and Shirrow will prob'ly go stay with Mushin. They'll be fine. Besides, it's prob'ly better that he stays with him in the village anyway. Miroku and Sango aren't gonna be around tonight so the village could use someone strong like Shirrow around just in case anything happens..."

Deciding that InuYasha was right about them being safe, Kagome let the subject change and began passing out food. "Where will they be off to tonight?"

"Mushin said something about them going to get a few things from a village south of here... I guess their spending the night since Mushin said he'd be watching Sakura." He shoveled food into his mouth. "He didin' say wha' tey needed to geh though."

"Probably just a few things for around their home. They didn't bring a lot from the house they had before. Most of it wouldn't have fit since the house in the village they have now is smaller."

Kotaro looked at his mother curiously. "But, Mom, don't they have the biggest house in the village? It's the only one with the sliding doors like they had in their old house..."

"Well, yes... But it's still smaller than their old one." She looked over at her one and only. "InuYasha, slow down. The food isn't going anywhere."

He either didn't hear or didn't care. "Won'er why tey don' aa more to the new hou'..." He swallowed. "I wouldn't mind helping them with the building part. I'll run the idea by Miroku when they get back tomorrow." He shoveled more food in.

Kagome shook head quietly and smiled. InuYasha really needed to work on table manners.

Meanwhile...

"Stupid Nori." Shirrow kicked up some dirt as he stomped through the village. "I was only giving wolf-boy a hard time so I could be around to look out for her..." He looked up and shielded his eyes from the sun. It was still early, but there was no doubt that his mother was already serving dinner.

_Dad's prob'ly already having seconds... or even thirds or fourths by now... _He sighed.

He looked down. A red ball rolled to a stop at his feet. He picked it up and it held his attention long enough for a second ball to fly through the air and connect with the back of his head.

"OW!"

He turned quickly to see a giggling Sakura on her brother's shoulders. Her high-pitched squeals of joy weren't what he needed right now, as it only frustrated him further, and his ears flattened against his head.

"We got you good, Shirrow!" squealed the delighted seven year-old.

"Keh..."

Mushin walked over to his lifelong buddy smiling. "Something wrong, pal? You look more melancholy than you usually do."

He looked away. "It's nothing. Nori's just being stupid."

"Lemme guess: wolf-boy?"

"Keh..."

"Look, I know you're just looking out for her, but Nori's a big girl. Whether she likes a guy or not is her decision, right?" Shirrow continued looking off in to the distance. "Besides, you should be nice to the guy. He might end up your brother-in-law one day." He smirked. That would get his attention.

And it did. Shirrow let out a growl as his ears perked up and his eyes narrowed. He turned on his friend, who was now backing away slowly with his little sister snickering from his back. "Come again?"

"What? Don't like the thought of the wolf being in your family?"

"Why wouldn't I hate the idea of that STUPID wolf in the family? His father's only tried to steal Mom away a thousand times!"

"Heh, well then you should be used to having wolves steal family members then!" _Getting Shirrow angry is _TOO _easy! And now comes the chase... _"See ya!" With that said, Mushin took off running with Sakura still giggling.

Meanwhile, Shirrow was seething. "Why that...!" He took off running after them. "Mushin, you're a dead man!"

And so they ran throughout the village weaving in and out of crowds. Nobody noticed the new arrivals.


	3. New Arrivals

**CHAPTER THREE: New Arrivals**

Shintaro was tired. Here he was, a middle-aged man traveling with his 15 year-old daughter, Kaori, and his 8 year-old son, Hiro. They were moving as far from their village as they could with their low amount of provisions. The reason they were moving, you ask? There was a demon attack at their last village. Many of the villagers hadn't survived the attack, and those that had, fled as soon as there was a chance. Shintaro's wife was one of the many that didn't survive. He wasn't about to lose his daughter and son to the demons, so as soon as it was safe enough, they grabbed his blacksmith tools and as much food as they could carry on the horses and ran for it.

They had been traveling for three days. There wasn't any danger of a demon attack. Word had it that this particular village they were heading towards hadn't had a demon attack in ages. There was also word of a beautiful priestess that resided there. That was good news for Shintaro. He was hoping to find someone that could possibly become the new mother of his children. Perhaps he could persuade the priestess to marry him...

An hour later, they arrived at the village. It seemed pretty peaceful and there were children running about. It looked like Kaori and Hiro would find many friends here. Shintaro asked around if there was any land being sold where he could set up his blacksmith shop. It turns out that he got something better. A family was moving to a village to the east and was selling their home. They gave it to the blacksmith for a good price and then went on their way to their new home. It was one of the smaller homes in the village, but Shintaro reasoned that it could always be added on to later. And there was a small barn where the horses could go. It was perfect for the small family.

The man handed his daughter some money. "Kaori, go get some food for tonight while Hiro and I start bringing things in."

"Alright." She took the money, grabbed a basket to carry food in, and set off through the village.

After getting enough to feed her family she started walking back towards her new home. She nearly dropped her basket when a young man came rushing past her. A small girl was on his back giggling. He yelled out an 'excuse me' as he ran by. Kaori shook her head.

_I wonder why they're in such a hurry... _

She only got to walk a few more steps before someone else came running by, this time she stumbled and dropped her basket. It seemed like whoever had knocked her over attempted to catch her, but ended up falling as well. Now the food she had bought was lying all around them and she slowly picked herself up and was about to give the person a piece of her mind. But before she let out a single word, she suddenly realized that she was too afraid to speak.

"Mushin! Get back here you coward!"

The chase was still on. Mushin was cleverly running through crowds of people. Shirrow wouldn't be able to tackle him in fear of hurting an innocent bystander. The enraged half demon pushed and shoved his way through the crowds right after his lifelong friend. None of the them dared to complain about his behavior. Even though they had known Shirrow since he was very young, they still feared what he might do if provoked.

Eventually after running through crowd after crowd, everyone began to disperse and there was enough room to catch up with Mushin in one leap. Shirrow wasn't paying attention to anything or anyone else. He never even saw the girl carrying the basket of food. He rushed right past her, causing her to drop the basket and stumble. He heard her cry out in surprise and tried to catch her, which only resulted with him falling with her.

He looked up from the ground to see that the girl had sat up and was now staring at him. She looked horrified.

"What's your problem?" He asked gruffly.

She flinched and scooted further away from him. "Y... your ears..." She tried to scoot further away, but she was up against a house now.

Shirrow flicked his ears and 'hmphed'. _So that's how it'll be. She doesn't even know me and she already hates me! _He moved closer to her. If nothing else, he wanted to irritate the heck out of the poor girl before going on his way. "Yeah? So?"

She gulped. "You... You're a demon..." _But Father said this village hasn't had demon attacks in a long time! He said we'd be safe here!_

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner." the half demon said sarcastically. The girl didn't move. "Keh... I'm not gonna eat you if that's what you're worried about..." He turned away.

"You're not...?"

"What? Are you disappointed?" he scoffed.

"So... Then why are you here?" Shirrow cocked his head to one side in confusion and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you here if you're not going to eat humans? My father said that this village hasn't had a demon attack in ages!"

"Yeah. That's right... And the reason for that is my dad protects this village from other demons attacking. Plus, my mom's a priestess... well, a reincarnation of one, anyway..."

"Father didn't hear anything about demons living here..."

"Keh! Well, if it bothers you so much, then leave!"

"No... I mean... You're not hurting anyone, so... And y-you did say that you're father protects this village, right?"

"Yeah." Shirrow started to pick up the food she had dropped and put it back in the basket. When he had finished, he handed the basket to her and stood up. "I gotta go, so I'll see you around, uhh..."

"Kaori... My name is Kaori." She looked up into his eyes. For some reason, she felt she needed to know his name. "And you?"

"Hmm?"

"What's your name?"

The young demon smirked. "Shirrow." He began to walk away and raised him hand to wave back at her. "See ya."

Kaori continued to sit on the ground for a few moments. Thousands of thoughts were spinning through her mind. _Okay... so I just met a demon. A really cute demon that doesn't seem like TOO bad of a guy... His father protects the village and his mother is a priestess... His ears were kind of cute. I wonder if he would let me touch them... Ohhh! What am I thinking? He's a demon! Demons kill humans! The village probably has to give his father something in return for protection! But why would a priestess marry a demon?...What if she's under a spell? Somebody should help her! ...Oh, but I'm jumping to conclusions... What if they really are nice people? I should ask someone that's lived here longer..._

"Ah, so I see you've met one of the village's mascots!"

She jumped when the voice suddenly came from behind her. She scrambled to get up and saw that it was a young man... It was the same one that had almost knocked her over!

"Umm... I..."

"I'm Mushin. This is my little sister, Sakura." He gestured at the small girl that stood by his side. "We live here in the village. So are you and your family planning on staying?"

"Yes... At least, I think we're staying..." She looked over to where Shirrow had walked off to. "You see, my father didn't know that there were demons that lived here... I'm not sure if he'll want to stay..."

"Oh, you won't have to worry about Shirrow. I've known him his entire life. He might act all tough and he has a bad temper, but he'd never hurt a human. The same goes for his dad. He's known for his temper, too. But thankfully, his little brother and sister act more like their mom."

"He said that his mother was a priestess..."

"Oh, yeah. And she's a real good healer, too. She brings a lot of advanced medicines from her home."

"So it's really safe to live here then? They wouldn't stop protecting the village and kill anyone, right?"

Mushin chuckled. "Of course not! The only thing that would stop them from protecting the village would be death."

Kaori let out a sigh of relief.

"And even if all of them were to die in some sort of tragic chain of events, my mom's a demon slayer, and my dad's a monk with great spiritual powers."

Sakura looked up from watching the other village children play. "Yeah, Daddy's got a wind tunnel in his hand, so he can suck up demons!"

"A 'wind tunnel'...?"

Mushin looked from his sister to Kaori. "It's this thing in his hand where if you get sucked into it, you can never come out again... Anyway, we have to go find Shirrow to see if he wants to stay with us tonight since he and his sister are fighting. It was nice meeting you, Kaori." ((A/N: he heard her tell Shirrow her name))

Sakura waved as she took her brother's hand and they began to search for their half demon companion.

………………………

Shintaro was getting frustrated. Where was Kaori? He and Hiro had finished bringing their few belongings in to their new home a while ago and his daughter was supposed to be back with their food by now... He sighed and grabbed his son before going out to search the town for Kaori. After a few minutes of walking around the village, Hiro suddenly stopped walking and looked off into the distance. When Shintaro asked what was wrong, he merely pointed.

Shintaro looked over at the shop and gasped. There was a demon. He seemed young, but you could never be too sure how old a demon was. It was talking to his daughter. She looked terrified. The middle-aged man pulled his bow off his back and took an arrow from his quiver. ((A/N: what? why wouldn't he always carry it with him? -)) He whispered to his young son not to make a sound as he pulled the arrow back and got ready to kill the demon that plagued the village.

_What's a demon doing here anyway? This village was supposed to be safe! _

He let the arrow fly through the air... Well it didn't get very far. It went a grand total of two feet before a clawed hand grabbed it out of the air.

Shintaro stared in disbelief. Another demon had come out of nowhere! This one was dressed in red and looked pretty angry. He threw down the arrow and stared fiercely at the human.

"Care to explain why you were shooting an arrow at my son?"


	4. Demons and Humans

**To The Readers…**_ Hey guys! Incase you haven't figured it out yet, I'm back with this new installment of 'A Funny Thing Called Love'. So lemme know what you think by reviewing. Don't be shy! -_

_-Japanime625_

**CHAPTER FOUR: Demons and Humans**

"Your... a demon..." Shintaro jumped back and got another arrow ready. InuYasha didn't even flinch. "Explain yourself! What are you doing here? This village is supposed to be free of demons!"

"Well, I ain't here to kill humans, if that's what you think."

"Why else would a demon be here?"

"Hmm... I dunno... maybe I live here?" The half demon crossed his arms across his chest. "Did you ever think of that?"

"What?"

"Yeah, not that it's any of your business, but I live with my wife and kids in the forest next to the village so that I'm near in case there's an attack."

"Hmph! Yeah, right! Why would a demon protect a village? Are you forcing the villagers to do something for you in return?"

InuYasha stared in disbelief. _Is this guy really that stupid? I'm telling the truth! I hate it when new people move to this village... I always have to deal with the same thing every time... _He turned away. "I don't have time for this. I'm only here to make sure my son has somewhere to stay for the night." He left Shintaro to stare as he jumped on top of a nearby hut and went over to get Shirrow's attention so he could talk with him.

Shirrow walked away from Kaori and a familiar scent caught his attention. He looked up and saw his father staring at him from the top of a hut. He nodded his head towards a clearing close to the village and jumped off in that direction. The younger demon ran to catch up to him. Once he had caught up and they arrived in the clearing, InuYasha asked what he was planning to do for the night.

"I figured I'd stay with Mushin or I'd just sleep in a tree or something... Why're you here, anyway?"

"You're mom sent me. She was worried about you and Nori so she went to check on her..."

He sighed. "You didn't have to check on me. I can take care of myself."

"Yeah well, she still thinks of you as someone that's always getting himself in to trouble... If you ask me, she's right." InuYasha smirked.

"Keh. I think I can handle being on my own in a village filled with _humans_. The only demon that'll be here tonight is Kirara." Shirrow crossed his arms in front of his chest.

His father did the same. "Speaking of humans, watch out for that girl you were talking to earlier. Her father isn't too fond of demons."

"What girl? Kaori? I told her that we protect the village... She'll tell her dad that, and everything'll be fine."

"I doubt that, I told her dad the same thing. He didn't believe me."

"Well, maybe he'll believe Kaori."

InuYasha sighed.

"She's pretty cute, though... I mean, she was terrified when she first saw me, but..." Shirrow looked his father in the eye. "When I left, she wasn't so tense... And I heard Mushin talking to her... He put in some good words for us. So, maybe everything will be okay between us..."

"Yeah... I have to get back, so just... Be careful, alright?"

"Yeah, okay..." Shirrow jumped in to one of the higher branches of a tree and got comfortable. InuYasha sighed again and began to walk back home.

InuYasha felt like his heart was being torn apart. Shirrow hadn't been having much luck with finding a 'girl friend' as Kagome put it. Sure he had friends that were girls in the village... But none of them were interested in being too close with a half demon. He had to watch his son get rejected by every girl in the village... A few of them hadn't even gotten a chance to know him before turning him down. And whenever a new family moved to the village, they were always hesitant to get too close.

Shirrow had gotten his hopes up once before when a new family had moved in. The girl had met him on his 'human night' and they had gotten along very well. The next morning, his son had gotten up early, bathed, tidied up his unruly hair, and made sure his clothes were as wrinkle free as possible. He grabbed a handful of wild flowers on the way to the village, and when he got there she seemed happy with the flowers and didn't even seem to mind that he was half demon. The next day, when Shirrow got to the village, he found the house they had stayed in empty, and the girl and her family had left the night before when he had gone back home for the night. He had been heart broken, but time heals all wounds. He got over the girl proclaiming that 'she hadn't been so great after all, and that he'd find someone who was better in every way.' That had happened two years ago... Hopefully Shirrow had learned not to get too attached so quickly by now.

InuYasha stepped through the front door. Kagome and Kotaro weren't back from her mother's house yet. He sat and leaned against a wall, closing his eyes. He'd have to talk to her about Shirrow's new 'interest' after Kotaro went to sleep.

"Well, he started it! He pushed me away from Inari and then he scared him and he fell in to the water! It's all Shirrow's fault!"

Kagome sighed. She and her daughter had been argueing over whether her son had made the wolf prince fall in to the water on purpose or not. So far, Noriko was winning. "Well, I'm sure that your brother is sorry." _Especially since now he has to sleep somewhere less comfortable than his bed, tonight..._

"I don't care if he is sorry! I'm not forgiving him until he apologizes to Inari!"

Her grandmother walked in to the room carrying a tray of snacks and tea. "Now, now, Nori. You shouldn't be too hard on Shirrow... Really, you both are too stubborn for your own good." She set the tray on the table and everyone took a cup.

Kotaro grabbed a few snacks when Kagome wasn't looking. She had told him not to eat a lot since they had just eaten dinner, but the snacks here were so tasty, he couldn't help himself! "Gran'ma, where's Uncle Sota? Is he still away at school?" _Hopefully they won't keep argueing about Nori and Shirrow!_

Kagome took some of his snacks away and put them back on the tray. Her mother nodded at his question. "Yes, dear. He's still away, but he always comes back during the weekend. He says that he misses seeing all of you."

"Well, I miss seeing him too. It's never any fun to play his video games with Shirrow 'cause he never goes easy on me just 'cause I'm littler than him."

His grandmother laughed. "Well I hope that's not the only reason you miss him."

He gave her a big smile. "No, I miss him for lotsa reasons!"

"You should all come to visit next weekend to see Sota. I'm sure that he'd enjoy that."

Kagome smield at the idea. "That sounds great, Mom. Now I just need to get InuYasha to come and we'll be set."

Her mother's smile faltered. "Oh, does he not want to come?"

"It's not that... He just doesn't like all of the noises and smells of the future. He loves to come visit here, though. You know he'd never pass up a chance to eat your food, Mom!"

She smiled. "Well, that's good to hear. I'm glad he likes my cooking."

"I like it too, Gran'ma!" Kotaro sneakily reached for another snack, but Kagome moved the tray further away from him.

"Kotaro, you just ate! Don't be a glutton."

"Okay..." he sighed.

His grandmother smiled and shook her head. "Well, getting back on topic, I wouldn't mind having Nori here. Just tell Shirrow that he'll have to come over here, if he wants to make peace."

"What makes you so sure that Shirrow will apologize, Grandma?" Noriko asked curiously.

"Well, neither of you are allowed back home until you make up, correct?" Nori nodded. "I'm pretty sure that he'll want to get back home long before you do, since he'll be staying somewhere less comfortable than his own bed." She smiled.

Noriko laughed. "I guess you're right, Grandma. I'll stay here until he comes to apologize!"

The night in the modern era continued to pass happily for them. Just as the sun was almost done setting, Kagome said it was time that she and Kotaro headed back.

"InuYasha's probably wondering what's taking us so long." she joked.

So down the well the two went. It was dark out by the time they had gotten back from the well. Kagome turned on the battery powered lamps she had around the house and after she had turned on the lamp in the master bedroom she was caught by surprise. InuYasha had come up behind her and began to kiss her neck. She relaxed against him. ((A/N: awww! -)) Kotaro giggled quietly from the doorway before deciding to let them have their fun. He wasn't really sure why grown-ups thought that was fun, but he figured he'd find out some day. He walked back to his and Shirrow's room and took out the Game Boy Advanced SP that Sota had given him.

Back in the master bedroom, InuYasha had sat on the bed and had pulled Kagome on to his lap. He sniffed in her scent and closed his eyes. "You're back late." He nuzzeled the back of her neck. "I was starting to get worried."

"You could've come to find us if you were worried." She had her eyes closed too.

"We should decide on a time where if it's getting too late, you should just stay at your mother's... I don't want to have to worry about you coming back really late and getting attacked by something." He began to rub her sore shoulders and back.

"Mmm... What time would you suggest?" She moved so that he could give her a better back rub.

"Sunset. You have to be back by sunset unless I'm there to protect you... How's that?"

"Uh huh... Sounds good..." She was falling asleep.

He smirked. _This'll wake her up... _"I think Shirrow's found a new girl that he's going to try and 'woo'..."

Her eyes snapped open and she turned to face him. She was smiling. "Really? Who? Is she new to the village? Does she like him? What does she look like? C'mon, InuYasha! I want details!"

He sighed and leaned against the headboard of their bed. "Calm down and I'll tell you what I know." He pulled her back on to his lap. "Okay so she's a new girl in the village, I dunno what her name is... I dunno if she likes him back, but they just met today. Shirrow said that she was scared when they first met, but when he left she didn't seem so afraid anymore..."

"What does she look like?"

"Uhh... I dunno... I wasn't really paying attention to her really..."

"What? Why not?" She sat up.

"I was busy..."

"Doing what?" She leaned against him and sighed.

"Let's just say that her father doesn't really approve of a family of demons being so close to the village..."

Kagome sighed again. "Well, he'll just have to deal with it... I don't want Shirrow to get hurt again..."

"Maybe you could talk to the guy... Or have Miroku and Sango try to talk some sense in to him when they get back tomorrow..."

"Yeah... We could try that... Myabe he'd listen if enough people tell him there's nothing to worry about..."

They were both silent for a moment and listened as the crickets chirped outside.

Kagome closed her eyes and let out a small yawn. "Hopefully Shirrow finds someone soon. It must be hard for him to be the only one in the family without someone else..."

"What do you mean?" He wrapped his arms around her. "I mean, I understand I have you and you have me, but..."

"Well, whether you'll admit it or not, Nori has Inari... and I'd bet anything that Kotaro and Sakura will end up together one day..."

"Hmm... I guess."

She laughed. "Do you approve of those matches, oh great one?"

"I don't HATE Inari... I'd just prefer that it wasn't Koga's pup."

"I didn't ask you if you did."

"You were thinking it... And anyway, I'm glad that she's found someone that'll take care of her... even if it is the son of that mangy wolf..."

She laughed again (how he loved that laugh) and snuggled closer to him. "And what about Kotaro and Sakura?"

"For his sake, I hope they stay together... I don't want him to go through what Shirrow's going through with women..."

"You worry too much... I doubt that any of them will end up alone..."

He scoffed. "Yeah, well, if you were me, you'd know that being a half demon doesn't exactly help when you want to find a mate."

She yawned. It was getting late. "Well, you found me didn't you?"

"Yeah, and I was lucky! If you hadn't been pulled in to the well, I would still be pinned to that tree! Even if Naraku hadn't shown up and screwed things up with me and Kikyo, it still wouldn't have worked out... She only wanted me to become a human, she didn't accept me as a half demon. The only reason I agreed was because I was desperate... And then you came along and I didn't need her any more... All I needed was you..."

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way. Because you're all I need, too."

He pulled her closer and they sat in silence. After a while, she fell asleep in his arms and he fell asleep not long after, still leaning against the headboard...


	5. Deal Between Siblings

**CHAPTER FIVE: Deal Between Siblings**

Shirrow woke early to the sounds of the village starting their day. Food was cooking, hammers were hammering, children were running about, venders were selling, farmers were farming... everything was exactly as it should be. He jumped down from his perch high up in the tree he had slept in the night before. Mushin had offered to let him stay with them when he had gone to find dinner in the village, but he had declined saying that he'd just sleep in one of the many trees in the village.

He stretched and yawned once his feet touched the ground. Then he began to wander about the village. Maybe one of the venders had something good for breakfast today... As he wandered by the shops he saw Kaori. She was buying something to eat and a small boy was with her. The vender handed them their food and they began to eat as they walked over towards the river that ran through the village. They sat down by the water and continued eating.

_I wonder if she's told her dad that I wouldn't attack the village... Wow... She's really cute in the morning light..._

Without really thinking about what he was doing, Shirrow decided to sit with them while they ate. So he jumped in to a tree that was directly above where they were sitting. They never even noticed he had arrived.

He put his hands behind his head and crossed his legs to make it seem like he'd been there the entire time. "So you're still here, huh?"

Kaori and her brother jumped at the sound of his voice. "Oh, it's you... You scared us."

Her brother grabbed on to her kimono. "Kaori! What are you doing? Don't talk to him, he's a demon!" he whispered.

Shirrow scoffed from the branch he was on. "So what if I'm a demon? I'm not gonna hurt you..."

"You... You heard me?" He tightened his grip on Kaori.

"Keh. 'Course I heard you. I ain't deaf." His ears twitched in annoyance. _Stupid kid... _He looked towards Kaori. "So did you tell your dad that me an' my family wouldn't hurt anyone?"

"Well... umm... I tried to..."

He jumped down from the tree and crouched next to her. "What do you mean, 'tried to'?"

"Apparently, my father and your father didn't start off on the right foot... And so he won't listen to me and I told him that all of the villagers said that you're really nice people..."

His eyebrows raised in surprise. "You asked other villagers just so that you could tell him that?"

"Well, no... I just told him that I asked other villagers so that he'd listen... I only talked to you and Mushin..." She blushed and looked away.

A cocky smile spread across Shirrow's face. "Heh. You like me that much, huh?"

"Wha... What? NO! I-I..."

Shirrow continued to smile.

"It's not like that!"

Shirrow's smile faltered and his ears twitched. He jumped back in to the tree just as an arrow pierced the ground where he had been sitting. He growled instinctively and looked over at the man that had tried to kill him. He had another arrow ready.

"I'd watch where I point that thing, if I were you, old man." He ducked as the arrow went sailing over his head.

"You stay away from my children! I didn't bring them here so that they would see demons every day!"

"Yeah? Well get used to it because I'm not leaving!"

A couple of the villagers looked over at the scene that was taking place. One of the men that had lived in the village his entire life walked over to Shintaro.

"Hey, now. Why are you doin' that? That boy wouldn't hurt nobody..."

"How could you say that? He's a demon! Look at him!"

"Well, sure he's a demon. That don't mean he's evil, though. If he ever hurt a human, his parents would be furious!"

"Really? Why's that? Would they be angry that they didn't get to hurt anyone?" He kept his eyes on Shirrow the entire time.

"Well, not exactly... You see, his mother's a human and his father's half human... I guess you can figure why they wouldn't approve of him hurting humans..."

Shintaro thought this over and lowered his bow. The villager put an arm around his shoulder as if they were old buddies and said, "There ya go. I've known InuYasha and Kagome for a long time. They raised Shirrow and their other two kids to be good, helpful members of the village... So why don't you just relax for a bit? C'mon, I'll help you set up shop. What are you anyway?"

"A... a blacksmith..."

"That'll be great! It's just what the village needs!" He started to pull Shintaro away, but he wiggled out of his grasp and turned towards Shirrow.

"Listen up half breed! I suppose I'll have to deal with you being around the village, but don't you go near my daughter! Do you hear me? She's off limits!"

He leaned back against the trunk of the tree and closed his eyes. "Keh..."

"Kaori! You and Hiro go back to the house."

She hurriedly stood up and pulled her brother down the road towards their home. Shintaro left going in the other direction with the other villager. Shirrow slouched.

_Well isn't this great... I've barely known her a day and I'm already forbidden to go near her... _He smirked. _But some rules are meant to be broken... _He jumped down from the tree and ran off in the direction of Kaori's home. _Besides, what can he do if I'm near her? Hurt me? Keh! Not likely. _

Nori sighed. She wanted to go see Inari. _One quick visit won't be so bad... I'll just avoid running in to Shirrow while I'm there... _She went down to the kitchen where her grandmother was busily washing dishes. She let her know that she was going back to make Shirrow apologize and ran outside towards the well house, opened the doors, and jumped down the well back to the feudal era.

She quickly climbed out of the well and was about to take off in the direction of the wolf den when she saw him standing by a tree, staring at her. He had a broad smile across his features as he stepped in to the light and she ran towards him. They hugged. ((A/N: awww!))

She looked up at him. "Were you waiting here for very long?"

"Naw... I followed your scent here and you climbed out right when I arrived."

She smiled and took his hand in hers. "C'mon. Let's go to our spot by the water."

They were silent as they walked to their spot and once they arrived, Inari sat down on the rock he had fallen off of, and Nori sat next to him and leaned against him. They watched as the fish same around and around and as the water continuously came down the water fall. Dragonflies buzzed about, and a few were caught by fish as they jumped out of the water.

"I'm sorry about my brother... He's a real jerk sometimes..."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry about it. No harm done... I don't care if he doesn't like me."

"It's not that he doesn't like you..."

"Nori. He made me fall in to the water, he's constantly pulling practical jokes on me, he's always around when it's just you and me... what more do you need as evidence that he doesn't like me? Oh and let's not forget the time he 'accidentally' set my tail on fire."

"He's just protective. That's all. He figures that if he makes it impossible for us to be together, Dad will give him some sort of reward for protecting me or something... And don't even say that Dad hates you, because he doesn't. He just says that he'd prefer that you weren't 'the son of that mangy wolf, Koga'."

"I guess so... So anyway, how were things at your grandmother's?"

They continued to talk for hours and hours. Pretty soon it was the middle of the afternoon and Nori would have to leave in a few hours. A pack of wolves howled in the distance. Inari looked away and listened to them.

"Those sound like our wolves... My mother's probably wondering where I am." He turned back to Nori. "I guess I have to get going. Bye Nori." He gave her a hug and then they both departed, going in different directions.

Instead of going back to the well, Noriko decided to walk to the village instead. _I wonder how Shirrow's doing without a place to stay... I guess it wouldn't hurt to see what he's up to..._

She arrived at the village and began to look around for her older brother. None of the villagers had seen him for hours. She noticed that there was a new family living here now and decided she would meet them when she was with her father in case they tried to hurt her. She eventually found Shirrow's scent and followed it to a tree which overlooked one of the smaller homes in the village. There was a young girl inside and he was watching her from his perch.

Nori's eyes narrowed. _That pervert! What's he doing? How can he just sit there and watch her like that?_ She bent down and picked up a stone and then looked up at Shirrow again. She tossed it at him and since he wasn't paying attention to anything else except Kaori, it hit him right on the head. It didn't hurt him, but it did startle him enough so that he lost his balance and fell off of the branch. He hit the ground with a solid thud and glared up at his little sister. She glared right back.

She crossed her arms. "Care to explain what you were doing?"

He stood up and dusted himself off. "No. I wouldn't." He crossed his arms and turned to walk away. "If you came here expecting me to apologize, you can forget it."

She let him walk a few feet then smirked. "I'm sure Mom would be pretty angry if she found out that you're spying on girls in the village..."

He stopped walking.

"It'd be too bad if she were to find out about that... Don't you think?"

He turned to glare at her. "What the hell are you gonna gain from blackmailing me?"

"Well... For one thing it'll get you to apologize, and pretty much anything else I want you to do..."

He continued to glare.

"So, to start things off... Why were you staring at that girl?"

"Keh... This is stupid. Why do you care anyway?"

"That's not really answering my question... Mom's at home, right?" She looked in the direction of their home.

"Dammit, Nori!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him. "Have it your way! But we're going to that waterfall you and wolf-boy are always at so no one can listen in."

Once they arrived at the spot, Shirrow pushed Nori down roughly. "Well go on! Let's get this stupid interrogation over with..." He sat by the water's edge.

Nori glared at him for being so rough. "Alright, fine... So I'll ask it again: Why were you staring at that girl?" He mumbled something. Nori strained her ears to make out what it was that he said. "C'mon, Shirrow! Stop mumbling. You're only making it more difficult..."

His ears flattened against his head. "Because I like her, okay?" he barked angrily. ((A/N: haha... bark... dog joke. I get it...))

Nori's eyes lit up. Even though Shirrow was being a pain she was still happy for him. _Maybe this time everything will turn out okay! _"Really? Well tell me about it! What's her name? Is she nice? She's a new girl in the village, right? I noticed that a new family moved in... Oh wait... if you like her does she like you back? Does--"

"Will you shut up for a second? How do you expect me to answer questions if you just keep giving me more?"

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. Just tell me about her."

He sighed and looked into the water. "Her name's Kaori, and yeah: she's new here. I prob'ly don't even have a chance with her..."

Nori's smile fell. "Don't say that... Why wouldn't you?"

"Her dad's not too happy about having half demons around. He was trying to pin me to a tree today. He just came outta no where with his bow and arrows..."

"Maybe Mom could talk to him... Or Aunt Sango and Uncle Miroku..."

"I doubt he would listen..."

"Well... Then you should prove it to him yourself!"

He turned to look at his little sister. "Yeah? And how do you expect me to do that?"

"You could work for him. Tell him that you'll help him with... uhh whatever it is that he does to prove that you're a good person, half demon or not!"

"Keh... Yeah right. It'd be a cold day in hell before he hired me." He leaned back against a large rock. "He would make up some stupid excuse like 'I'm trying to lure him in to a false sense of security and then I can kill him and take his daughter' or something..."

"Well make some sort of deal with him or something! It's worth a try, isn't it?"

"Yeah... I guess..." He looked over at the waterfall.

Nori was starting to get frustrated. "Tell you what... If you promise to apologize and give my plan a try... I promise I won't tell anyone that you were spying on Kaori."

His ears perked up and he looked over at her. "What... Really?"

She smiled and held out her hand. "Yup... Deal?"

Shirrow smiled too and shook her hand. "Deal." He stood up and looked down at her. "But if things get worse because of your little 'plan'... Igettopunchwolf-boy!" He took off running towards home, laughing.

"What?" She stood up and ran after him. "That wasn't part of the deal, Shirrow! I'm gonna tell Mom what you did, if you don't take that back!"

"Nope! Can't do that, because as long as I apologize and try your plan, you said you weren't gonna say anything about that!"

They continued racing towards their home, arguing all the way. Kagome looked outside and smiled as they ran into the clearing in their front yard. InuYasha, who had been taking a nap in a hammock they had brought from the modern era, looked over at them sleepily. Kotaro poked his head out of a window and laughed when he saw that his brother and sister were back home and they were already arguing.

That night, with his family as witnesses, Shirrow apologized to his sister for being a jerk towards her and Inari. Not long after, Nori brought up a certain subject that Shirrow didn't particularly want to discuss.

Nori smiled. "Shirrow likes the new girl in the village."

Shirrow nearly choked on his dinner. "Nori!"

Kagome smiled "That's wonderful! Shirrow, I know you've had trouble finding someone, but just think positive!"

He buried his head in his hands. "Moooooommm!"

His mother continued to smile happily. "I'm so happy for you, honey! So come on, let's hear all about her!"

Nori smirked. "Yeah, Shirrow. Let's hear it."

He glared at her, then looked around at everyone else at the table. They were all staring at him, waiting to hear about Kaori. Everyone except his father, who was still shoveling food in his mouth, but watching from the corner of his eye with his ears perked up. Shirrow sighed. It was going to be a long night...


	6. Putting the Plan into Action

**TO THE READERS: **_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!!_

_I've been a horrible person and I'm SOOO sorry!!! I did exactly what I never wanted to do: I stopped updating a story… Please don't be angry!!! I promise I'll finish this story and hopefully it will be so good that you guys can forgive me for not updating in so long…_

_lil' Japanime_

_((yeah… I changed my PenName :P))_

**CHAPTER SIX: Putting the Plan into Action**

Nori woke up, sat up in bed and stretched. It was still early; her mother hadn't even begun preparing breakfast yet. She and InuYasha were still in bed, sound asleep. The young half demon got out of bed and changed out of her night clothes. There was no use of lying in bed if she was awake. Her ears perked up when she heard the door to her brothers' room open. Footsteps went slowly towards the front door, which opened a moment later and then shut again. Curiosity got the best of her. She opened the door to her room and she walked outside as well.

Shirrow was sitting there. He looked over his shoulder when the door opened, and saw that Nori had come out to join him. She sat next to him.

"So what're you doing up so early? Daddy usually has to come in and kick you a few times before you get up." Nori teased.

He yawned. "I've been up for a while... Jus' didn't get outta bed 'til now."

"Couldn't sleep?"

"Yeah, and it's your fault."

"What?" She stood up abruptly. "How is it MY fault?"

Hey pulled her back down. "Keep it down! Are you trying to wake everyone up? It's too early for you to be yellin' your head off."

She glared at him.

"Jeeze... I was kidding, okay? I slept fine. I jus' woke up early is all."

She crossed her arms. "Are you worried?"

"About your plan? No. Not really. No offense, but I don't really expect it to work. I'm only giving it a shot because of our deal we made yesterday."

"You shouldn't give up all hope so soon. Just because you've had trouble with women so far doesn't mean it'll always be like that..."

He scoffed. "Now you're starting to sound like Mom." He stood up. "Listen, I'm gonna go through with it, okay? If I had lost all hope, I wouldn't have even considered trying, right?"

"Yeah, okay..."

... 

An hour later, everyone else had woken up and the family was getting ready to head off to the village.

Shirrow grabbed one of the muffins Kagome had brought from the modern era off of a plate. "I don't see why all of you guys are coming... The last thing I need is for everyone to be hanging around when I'm trying to make this work..."

"Well it was my plan in the first place, so why shouldn't I go along to see if it works out?" Nori grabbed a muffin too.

Kotaro, who had crumbs all over his mouth, looked over at his older brother. "I told Sakura I'd go to play at her house today... It's not my fault that your plan is on the same day!"

Kagome grabbed a washcloth and wiped her youngest son's mouth off. "What's wrong with having everyone else in the village? If he sees that we're all there and no one's causing trouble, maybe it'll help him to see that you aren't out to hurt anyone."

InuYasha crossed his arms. "I'm just goin' to make sure you get the job. If that idiot's too thickheaded to see a good kid when there's one right in front of him, I'll knock some sense in to him."

Kagome sighed. "InuYasha, don't hurt anyone, okay? That's not going to do any good."

"What? That blacksmith'll have it coming, if he doesn't agree to let Shirrow work for him!"

She sighed again. "InuYasha, please don't beat him up..."

"Feh, whatever... Let's hurry up and go already. I ain't got all day."

And so they left for the village. Once they got there, everyone went off in different directions. Kotaro ran off to find Sakura, Kagome needed to buy a few things for dinner, InuYasha ended up helping a few of the elderly villagers carry their purchases, Nori began talking with some of the village girls, and Shirrow tried to keep himself calm as he walked towards Shintaro's shop.

... 

"No."

Shirrow's ears flattened against his head. It took everything to keep himself from overreacting and getting angry. "Why?"

Shintaro looked up from his work. "There's a lotta reasons..." He looked back at his work, made a few changes, then stood up and looked straight at Shirrow. "Obviously, the first being that you're a demon, and I have no desire to have you around my shop. Secondly, what would I gain from having you work for me? I'd have to teach you how everything works first and show you what to do since you know nothing about being a blacksmith. I wouldn't get nearly as much work done when I have to teach you. And besides that, the only reason you only want the job is so that you can get close to my daughter... Am I right?"

He didn't answer.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Shirrow stifled a growl. "If you don't want to waste your time teaching me, than let me do farm work instead. I'll take care of the crops you've been planting. I already know how to do that kind of work..."

"Taking care of the crops is my son and daughter's job. Not yours. They can handle it by themselves so why don't you just give up. Now get outta here before I get angry and decide to get my bow and arrows."

He stood his ground, arms crossed. "I ain't leavin' until you let me prove that I'm not the bad demon you think I am."

Shintaro glared back at him.

... 

Kotaro and Sakura walked down the road that ran through the village. He held a bright red ball. They were planning on playing one of the games they had made up.

The young half demon pointed towards a small boy that sat by himself underneath a tree. "Let's ask him to play, Sakura. He's new here. He pro'lly doesn't know anybody yet."

She looked over at the boy. "Oh, that's Hiro. He's real nice, I met him yesterday."

"Well, let's ask him to play then." he said with a smile.

The duo ran over to the small boy, and he looked up as they approached. Sakura gave him a big smile. "Hey Hiro!"

He seemed flustered. "H-Hi Sakura..." His eyes shifted over to the young demon boy beside her.

She gestured towards him. "This is my friend, Kotaro. We were wondering if you wanted to play a game with us."

"I... umm..." He looked away.

"What's wrong?"

Kotaro's ears flattened against his head. He knew what was coming.

"It's just... My father says I can't play with him... 'Cause he's a demon..."

Sakura didn't understand. "Only half demon." He grabbed the boy's hand and tried to pull him up from where he sat. "So let's play."

He pulled his hand back. "I can't! It doesn't matter how much of him is a demon!"

She threw her hands up in the air. "But that's not fair for Kotaro! Why can't you just-"

Kotaro sighed and came into the conversation. "It's okay, Sakura. Forget it." He handed them the ball. "You guys can play. I don't feel like playing right now, anyway..." He turned and started walking away, trying his hardest not to let any tears fall.

"But Kotaro...!" Sakura reached out for the sleeve of his shirt. He turned and flashed a smile. "No, really. It's okay. You guys go ahead and play. I'll play a game with you later." He turned back and began to walk.

Hiro stood up. "Kotaro!"

He turned. He wasn't expecting him to say anything.

"I... I'm sorry... I wanna be your friend... It's just... My Dad..."

He held up a hand. "It's okay... I'm used to it."

He turned and kept walking. He really was used to it. Whenever a new family came to the village, it was always the same thing. He still didn't completely understand why it mattered... Why newcomers would whisper about the family of dog demons that lived in the forest by the village. His mother and father had tried to explain it to them, about how they were different and that some people would never understand... His mind drifted to when InuYasha had tried to explain.

_"Kotaro, I can't explain it... It's just that people act stupid sometimes. All they see is that you're a half demon. They don't care if you're nice, they don't wanna take the time to get to know you because of what you are. I know, because it was the same way when I was your age. Except I didn't have everything you guys have. You have me, your mom, Shirrow and Nori... You got Grandma too. And Uncle Sota... I didn't have anyone that cared about me after my mother died... That's why you guys have to stick together. You're all lucky. None of you will have to be alone..."_

Kotaro sighed. It wasn't like he didn't have friends. He had Sakura and there were other children in the village whose parents didn't care that he was half demon. But it still hurt whenever someone new came that completely rejected the idea of knowing him.

He continued walking until he found Kagome. She was talking with Sango when Kotaro wondered over to them.

Sango looked at him with her eyebrows raised. "Hey, Kotaro... where's Sakura? I thought you two were going to play..."

"She's playing with the new boy... His dad doesn't want him to play with me, so I left." He stared at the ground.

Kagome crossed her arms. "Something has to be done about him! I hope he at least lets Shirrow work with him... Maybe that'll show him that not all demons are evil..."

"Some people are just stubborn, Kagome. If he doesn't want to get to know you guys, he can leave."

She sighed. "I guess... I'm worried about Shirrow, though... If they end up leaving, he'll be heartbroken... I mean, he REALLY likes this girl..."

A loud crash rang throughout the village. Kagome, Sango, and Kotaro all turned to look at the hut that the sounds had come from.

"You can have the job, so get out before I change my mind!"

Shirrow ran from the hut and jumped into a tree, as a few bowls were thrown from the hut and shattered as they hit the ground. Kagome ran over to the tree, concerned about him.

"Shirrow, what happened? Are you alright?" He came down from the tree and she quickly checked him for any injuries.

"I'm fine, Mom." He pushed her hands away. "He's just not too happy about his decision to let me work for him. That's all..."

"Why'd he even agree to it, if he was so against it?"

"Well, uhh..." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "It might've helped that Dad came barging in and threatened him..."

His mother sighed and put a hand up to her forehead. "Oh for the love of... Where is he? He should know better."

"Who should know better?" InuYasha asked as he walked over, arms crossed with a smug smile across his face.

Kagome turned on him. "You should! Why did you have to threaten the guy? That's not helping him realize that not all demons are bad!"

"Hey, Shirrow got the job, didn't he? And you told me not to hurt him. You didn't say anything about threatening him!"

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Never mind. Why do I even bother?" She started walking away in the general direction of their home.

"Kagome, come back...!" InuYasha followed after her. "You were right, and I was wrong, okay? I should've let Shirrow do the whole thing by himself... Are you even listening? Kagome...!"

The two of them wandered away from the village. Kagome tried to hold back giggles. It was so easy to annoy him just by not talking!

Meanwhile, Sango left Shirrow and Kotaro to finish helping around the village, and the two boys were alone. Shirrow let out a sigh and stretched. He looked down at his little brother, who was still upset about Hiro. He raised an eyebrow at the small demon.

"What's your problem?" he asked roughly.

He was quiet for a moment, and then looked up at him. "Shirrow, you'll prove that we're not bad, right?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna try to. It's up to him whether or not he wants to think that... Why?"

"Because Kaori's little brother said he wanted to be friends, but his dad won't let him..."

Shirrow sighed. He knew how Kotaro felt. He grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him onto his shoulders for a piggyback ride. "Well quit worrying about it. I'll get him to see that we're not out to hurt anybody, and you'll have a new friend and I'll-"

"Ha ha! You'll have a girlfriend! Gramma'll tease you about her, won't she?" he asked with a big smile.

"Heh... Yeah, prob'ly..." His ears perked up as Shintaro came stomping out of his home.

"Listen up, half breed, I'm only saying this once. I'm allowing you to help out with my crops I've planted. So you better get here early every morning and I had better have the best crops in the village when it's time to pick them, do you understand?"

Shirrow nodded, but said nothing.

"And I'm still forbidding you to be anywhere close to my daughter. The second you try anything with her, an arrow's going through your heart." He looked up at Kotaro, who was trying to hide behind his brother's hair. "And you stay away from my son. He doesn't need any half breeds for friends." He turned and walked back inside.

Kotaro trembled on his brother's shoulders. "H-He's kindda scary... don't you think? M-Maybe you shouldn't try for Kaori... I mean, you heard what he said! He said he'd kill you..."

"Keh." Shirrow crossed his arms. "Don't be so cowardly. Some stupid human with arrows ain't gonna scare me."


	7. Puppy Love

_A Note for the Readers:_

_So it's apparent that I'm a pretty horrible person... I haven't updated this story in forever and I hate when others do that... I'm a hypocrite and I'm sorry... _

_However! I DO want to finish the story, and have it all planned out... All I have to do is type it. =) I think you guys will like it, and I really think my writing has improved a lot... so I hope you enjoy!_

_Don't forget to review so I know what you think!_

_~Lil'Japanime~_

**CHAPTER SEVEN: Puppy Love**

Despite the possible reward of Kaori's heart, Shirrow still dreaded having to start his new "job". Shintaro hated him already, and, as far as he could tell, there was no changing that. Not in the near future, not in the far future, not in any future. He walked Kotaro back home after the fiasco in town. Neither brother had a good day with the new villagers; neither brother wanted to talk about it. Well, one brother didn't want to talk about it.

"But it's not fair, Shirrow... I wanted to play with Sakura, and now I can't all because Hiro's dad doesn't like me... What did I even do? I didn't do nothing! All I did was want to play with Sakura and now I can't and it's not fair. And all you want to do is play with Kaori, and he won't let y- OWW!"

Kotaro climbed out from the bush Shirrow had ever-so-kindly pushed him in. His older brother didn't seem happy, or he would've tried to fight back. Shirrow didn't even stop walking to see if he was ok.

"Just shut-up. Some people just don't like demons. It's as simple as that."

Shirrow didn't like it, but it was true. Now it was all on him to win over Shintaro's trust. _I'm the one who has to get him to like us. I'm the one who started this whole mess. If I didn't like Kaori, it wouldn't matter. I could just ignore it, but I can't... Dammit, why does she have to be so pretty? If she were horribly burned or somethi- NO. God, I'm pathetic. I don't want her to be horribly burned... I want.. her. She's just so... _Shirrow's thoughts trailed off and a smile started to spread across his face. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. _but her dad is a jackass._

Kotaro had caught up to his brother again and still wasn't convinced. "Well, it's still not fair."

Shirrow sighed. "Yeah... I know."

He stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air; he growled. Inari was near by. The boy didn't really bother him. It was good that ol' wolfy could take care of Noriko. But if InuYasha didn't like him, then that's all the opening Shirrow needed. Besides, it would be fun to blow off some steam.

"Kotaro, go on home. I'm gonna go find something."

Kotaro looked curiously at his older brother and sniffed at the air. His senses weren't nearly as fine-tuned yet, but he barely caught Inari's scent. He didn't want another fight. Kotaro looked pleadingly at Shirrow. "Nori's gonna be mad if you do anything..."

Shirrow smirked. "Who said I was gonna do anything? I said I wanted to find something. Now go home."

With that, he lept into the trees and was gone. Kotaro sighed, shook his head, and leaped into the trees as well, heading home.

... ... ... ... ...

It wasn't long before Shirrow found Inari. He was by the waterfall he and Noriko always meet at. There he was, just sitting on the rocks bordering the small stream. Shirrow was downwind; Inari would never see a sneak attack coming. The dog-boy hunched down in the bushes and waited to pounce, ears flattened against his head. A smirk spread and his fangs glistened in light coming down through the trees. His muscles tensed, ready to leap in 3... 2...

"Inari!"

Shirrow had been halfway to springing through the bushes when Nori came into view. He quickly ducked back down and swore under his breath.

Inari's smile widened. "Hey Nori!" He jumped up from the rocks and the two hugged tightly. He laughed softly. "Missed me, huh? It's only been since yesterday."

Nori smiled and took his hand; the two of them sat back down by the stream and dipped their feet in the cool water, watching the fish swim around them. "Well, I kinda like seeing you sometimes."

"Haha, I'm glad." He held her hand and leaned his head against hers. "So how's everything? You and Shirrow make up?"

Nori sighed. "Yeah."

"What's wrong?"

"It's just... He fell for this new girl in the village... her father doesn't like demons though."

Inari shrugged. "He'll have to get used to it, you guys live right here... besides, you're far too beautiful to not like. You'll see. It'll all turn out fine."

Shirrow gagged. _Ugh. Lay it on thick, Wolf-Boy. I'm dyin' over here. What's Nori doin' talking about me with him anyways?_

Nori giggled. "Ha, yeah ok. but I don't think it'll be that easy. Anyways, he's working for her dad now... I'm not sure how it'll go, but I think if he sticks with it, Shirrow will get him to see that we're not bad."

The conversation continued on; Nori continually saying that 'Shirrow will pull it off' 'he'll change his mind and see that we're good people' and 'Shirrow would look really cute with Kaori'. The two love birds were never aware that Shirrow was so close by, listening to every word.

However, it was getting later in the afternoon and Shirrow was getting hungry... not to mention bored. Inari wasn't much of an interesting conversationalist. It was always turned back around to how beautiful Nori was, or him merely agreeing with whatever she was saying. Not that Shirrow thought she was wrong, or ugly. Nori was very beautiful for a 13 year-old half demon. She had Kagome's twinkling eyes and raven-black hair; her black dog-ears were tipped with a shining silver. She was sweet, and cared about others... she wasn't ditsy like some of the human girls in the village. She was level-headed and strong like Kagome, and stubborn and strong-willed like InuYasha. She definitely wasn't a horrible catch, so Shirrow could see why Inari would like her... but why did it have to be HIS sister that he chose to be all soft and cuddly with?

Shirrow shook his head to clear his thoughts. _I don't want to sit here and watch this anymore. I shouldn't be watching anyways. But if he so much as leans in too close when I'm around, I'll pound him into the ground... sigh but I should get going. I'm starving and I have to make sure Kotaro won't tell Nori I was gonna mess with Inari..._

With one last look at the two love birds, Shirrow crouched down and snuck far enough away where they wouldn't hear him jump to the treetops.

Nori's ears perked up, and she gave Inari a quick peck on the cheek. He smiled and nuzzled his head against hers.

"What was that for?"

"Shirrow finally left."

... ... ... ... ...

~The Next Day~

Shirrow woke up bright and early and rushed over to Shintaro's shop; he wanted to at least try to make a good impression on his first day. It didn't work.

"Why're you here so early?" Shintaro sneered, "The sun's barely up and we haven't even eaten yet. You better not be looking for something to eat, mutt. I'm not feeding you."

Shirrow held his tongue. "No sir. Ate before I came over."

Shintaro glared. "Good to hear. We're gonna eat then. You wait out here like the other dogs." He slammed the door ((A/N: as much as you possibly can slam a sliding door, I guess)), leaving Shirrow outside, alone and hungry.

_Dammit, I shoud've eaten more... Why'd Kotaro need thirds anyways? Little pig..._

Shirrow settled down under a tree across from their house and waited as patiently as he could. But time went slowly and he was left outside for over an hour before Shintaro finally opened the door again.

"Alright mutt," he started, "go around back, start pulling weeds..." he looked questionably at Shirrow, "you can handle that much, right? I have a lot to get done. I don't need to explain it to you, do I?"

Shirrow held back a growl. "No sir... I know how to pull weeds." _Jackass... He's trying to get a rise outta me so he can tell me to get lost... well he won't get it. _

"Good. Get going." Shintaro turned to go back inside, Shirrow could hear clanging of metal-on-metal.

_Yeah... sounds important. Gonna give me a headache..._ His ears flattened against his head. The clanging was getting on his nerves. Shirrow walked past the noise and behind the house where he saw Hiro sitting, leaning against the house. "Hey kid."

Hiro was startled out of his daydream. "OH... um... hey?"

The two stared awkwardly at each other. Shirrow broke the silence with a cough.

"So anyways, I guess you can go run off and play or whatever... I doubt your dad wants you around me. I might eat you or something ridiculous like that..."

"I'm supposed to watch you."

"... Watch me?" Shirrow stared in disbelief.

"Yeah... you know..." Hiro kicked at the dirt, not making eye contact. "... to make sure you don't do something bad or run off I guess...? I'm supposed to watch and let Dad know when you mess up."

"I ain't gonna mess up."

"... I know."

Shirrow was taken aback. He hadn't been expecting the boy to have any kind of faith in him at all. "So why watch me then? Go be a kid and play."

"Dad'll just get mad if I leave... and I'm not supposed to talk to you either."

"Whatever."

Shirrow started working, miserably pulling weeds. It was tedious and annoying... but he had nothing else to do, no other task... He threw more weeds into the basket Hiro had gotten for him.

"So how old are you anyways?"

Shirrow sighed. "I thought you're not supposed to talk to me."

Hiro shrugged, "It's boring not to.."

"I'm seventeen. What about you...?" He wasn't really interested, but the conversation was better than silence while being awkwardly watched.

"Eight..."

"My brother's eight, too. You guys could probably be good friends if your dad would let you play instead of watch me." _Hint Hint, Kid. Go tell daddy I'm not gonna kill anyone._

"He doesn't want me to play with your brother..." He shrugged again and slouched against the house. "He seems nice though... Sakura was telling me about him."

"Heh. Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. She really likes him... She said she's gonna marry him... is that true?"

Shirrow guffawed. "Haha, Yeah. probably. Sakura has a way of getting what she wants. Didn't know she was committed already... Mom'll get a kick out of that one."

Hiro seemed confused, but didn't say anything. The time passed by slowly...

Three hours passed and Shirrow was almost done pulling weeds. With a few last pulls, the job was complete; he walked around to the front to find Shintaro to get his next task, Hiro following close behind.

"Dad might be sleeping... He gets up pretty early to take care of the horses and get breakfast ready for us... You threw him off when you got here before he was done cooking."

Sure enough, Shintaro was asleep inside the house. Shirrow frowned. _He's probably dreaming about hating me, too._

He turned to Hiro as they walked back outside. "So, what do I do?"

Hiro's eyes widened, "DON'T wake him up... He'll be mad."

Shirrow rolled his eyes. "Yeah, fine... but what do I do until he wakes up? Just sit here?"

"I guess you're off the hook." he shrugged. "I'll come get you if he wants you to come back I guess."

Shirrow was wary. "I dunno if I should just leave... You don't think he'll mind too much?" _The last thing I need is him thinking I'm ditching after three hours of pulling weeds..._

The boy nodded. "Yeah, I'll tell him I sent you away, it's fine."

The demon still wasn't sure, but the thought of sitting there for an indefinite amount of time seemed torturous. "Alright... If you say so... I'll stay near by." And with that, he leaped into the air and landed in a tree by the river that ran through the village. It was good to be out of the sun.

An hour later, Hiro came looking for him and stopped just under the tree.

"Dad says he doesn't want me exposed to a demon any more today, so you should just go away."

Shirrow scoffed. "Gee thanks."

"Well... I didn't mind it." Hiro kicked at the dirt. "You don't bother me any..."

Shirrow didn't look his way but instead leaped out of the tree and landed in front of the boy. "Well... I guess you're alright yourself." He turned and walked off.

He made it about 100 feet away before Hiro ran up to catch him.

"Shirrow!"

He stopped and turned around.

"Shirrow, Dad just woke up to tell me to tell you to go away... He went back to sleeping."

The dog demon raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for the update. I'll try not to make too much noise." He turned to leave, but Hiro caught his sleeve.

"No, I mean, he's sleeping... So you can see Kaori."

Shirrow's ears perked up, his attention was caught.

"Cause you like her right? She thinks you're cute... even though you're a demon..."

"Wha... How..."

"I heard her asking Sakura's brother about you... He kept asking her what she thought of you and she said that."

Shirrow smirked. _Heh. Leave it to Mushin to get stuff done. I guess I kinda owe him something now..._

"So..." Hiro's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "Do you wanna know where she is?"

Shirrow smiled. "Hell yeah."

... ... ... ... ...

Kaori had gone for a walk. She had finished her chores around the house and had watched Shirrow from the window... She needed some air. She'd walked past what was probably the biggest, tallest tree she had ever seen. The peculiar thing about it was that it seemed to have a big scar on it, like it had been in a battle. Arrows were stuck in the trunk, and on the other side, "I + K" was carved into it with a heart around it.

As she walked farther into the forest, she came to a clearing... The only thing around was a wooden well. She walked up to it and looked inside. It was very deep, and something seemed almost supernatural about it... She peered deep down into the well and leaned as far in as she dared with her hands braced against the sides. _There's definitely something special about this well, but I can't tell what... _

She leaned ever so slightly further in, and a spider crept over the fingers of her right hand; She gasped and moved her hand too suddenly to get the spider off; she lost her balance and felt herself tip forward into the mouth of the well. She was about to let out a scream, but suddenly she was back on solid ground. _How..._

"You really shouldn't lean into wells like that... And what are you doing wandering so far from the village by yourself anyways?"

Kaori looked up into sparkling, golden eyes and was instantly entranced. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I wasn't trying to fall in... I just... Thank you, Shirrow."

Shirrow blushed. "Yeah well..." He backed away to give her more space.

The two stood awkwardly for a moment before Kaori broke the silence. "I just felt something... weird... about the well."

Shirrow's ears perked and he tilted his head to the side. "Oh?"

"Yes... I can't explain it though. Do you know anything about it?"

Shirrow snickered.

Kaori turned to glare. "You don't have to laugh..."

"No, no... I'm not laughing at you... It's just.. well, I doubt you'd believe me... Let's leave it at that." He started to walk away. _Yeah, that's just where my mom came from. She lived on the other side and I can travel forward in time 500 years... It's all perfectly normal stuff..._

Kaori chased after him and the two walked together, side-by-side.


	8. The Attack

**CHAPTER EIGHT: The Attack**

"What do you mean, Shirrow?" Kaori stared quizzically at the boy as they walked.

"Shouldn't you be heading back? Your dad hates me, remember?" Shirrow stopped and turned quickly, making Kaori gasp and stop in her tracks. Their faces were mere inches apart. He lowered his voice to nearly a whisper. "I might try to take you back to my lair or something."

Kaori huffed. "You wouldn't. Why would you try so hard to get my father to like you and your family?" She eyed his claws. "You could get rid of us any time you want..." She looked deep into his eyes; there was no malice in them, not a single shred of it. "You're not like other demons."

Shirrow scoffed and turned to continue walking. "You barely know me.. How do you know I'm trustworthy?" He linked his fingers behind his head and continued on. "For someone who's mother just died in a demon attack, ya'd think you-"

The young demon stopped in his tracks; Kaori had stopped walking as soon as he had mentioned her mother. Shirrow mentally cursed himself for bringing it up. _Of course that's a bad subject to bring up... What the hell am I thinking? I shouldn't be saying things like that to her..._ He turned to see the girl standing stiffly a few yards behind him, her fists curled up in her skirt, holding it tightly. She faced the ground, her eyes covered by her hair... was she crying?

Ears flattened against his head out of guilt, Shirrow took a few steps towards her. "Hey, listen... I didn't mean to bring up bad memories or anything..." She didn't look at him. "It's just, my mouth... I have a bad habit of putting my foot in my mouth... and then I end up saying some really stupid stuff... so.." He kicked at a stone out of frustration at his own stupidity, sending it flying. He began to blush. "Look, I'm sorry, alright?" Shirrow turned his face away, now completely red from embarrassment.

They were silent for a long time. Shirrow wished he could redo the entire conversation. Why was he being such a jerk all of a sudden? He liked her, right? You're not supposed to treat the girl you're attracted to like that... Why would he say something like that? And why wasn't she talking? The wind blew through the trees and ruffled their hair and clothes. Kaori still hadn't looked up from the ground, but Shirrow couldn't smell any tears. He let out a small sigh of relief and turned to face her again, ears still flat against his skull, waiting to be reprimanded for being an insensitive ass; he'd blown it already. Why would she want to be anywhere around him now after what he had said?

"It was the worst day of my life."

Shirrow's ears raised ever so slightly from his skull, his shoulders drooped, he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Kaori looked up from the ground, but not at Shirrow. She sat on a fallen tree a few feet away; remembering that day took a lot out of her. She had been acting strong for her father and brother; she didn't want them to see her upset... She had to be both a sister and a mother for Hiro, and had to take on the duties her mother had to help out Shintaro... There was no room for her to be upset. But being here, with Shirrow... somehow it felt easier to let go, to be weak and not have to put on a facade.

Shirrow walked slowly over to her and perched on the fallen tree a few feet away to give her space. He didn't say a word; if she wanted to continue , it was her choice, but he wouldn't leave her.

She glanced over at him then abruptly turned away again. "A month ago everything was fine.. Hiro and I were with Mama... We were buying cloth so she could make some new clothes for Hiro... He's always growing out of them so fast..."

... ... ... ... ...

"... and then Kosuke ran through the water, and this HUGE fish splashed outta the water and Kosuke was so scared he fell over and me an' Haru laughed sooo hard, Mama. It was great!"

Hiro's mother smiled at her young son's tale and gently ruffled his hair. "Yes, dear, I'm sure it was wonderful... Now sit still; I want to make sure I have the measurements right so you don't grow out of these clothes too."

She was a beautiful woman. Her skin was smooth, her smile warm and inviting. Her light blue kimono fit snugly around her fit form. A sapphire pendent hung from her neck, a family heirloom that she planned to give to Kaori. Her hair was tied back in a loose pony-tail and a few strands of her wavy brown hair hung in her eyes, which she was constantly tucking behind her ears. Her hands moved quickly and efficiently as she got the correct measurements for her son's new clothes; she was an expert at sewing and loved making things for her family to wear, especially her daughter. The two of them were inseparable; even now, Kaori was busily helping her mother by cutting the pieces of cloth for her little brother's new ensemble.

"Mama, are you done yet? I wanna go play with Haru and Kosuke..." The small boy squirmed from boredom; as far as he was concerned, his clothes were fine, regardless of the fact that his pants were now several inches too short.

His mother sighed "It's too close to dinner time. You can play with them tomorrow."

She took the sapphire pendent from around her neck and set it on a shelf.

... ...

The two boys wandered out of the village together.

"So there's this cave and one of the older kids was sayin' that there's a bear cub and it's hurt... and I bet it's died by now and I bet we could get one of it's teeth or somethin'... what'dya say we go check it out?"

"Are you sure it's dead, Kosuke?" Haru asked. "Remember when you said that the medicine lady's cat was dead, and we tried burying it? She was awful mad..."

"Not as mad as the cat!" Kosuke chimed in.

The boys laughed happily at the memory; it hadn't been one of their better ideas.

Kosuke waved the concerns off. "That was three years ago... I didn't know any better! I was five, okay? We're older now, and the bear's dead by now."

Haru was excited. "Yeah it'll be fun! Besides, everyone's gonna be so jealous of our bear teeth." He peeled his lips from his teeth with his fingers and made a face.

Kosuke pushed him away with a laugh and ran ahead. "First one there gets the best teeth!"

They ran through the trees until they got to the cave. It was carved into a hillside and wasn't very big. Sure enough, there was a bear cub laying motionless in the entryway.

... ...

A scream rang through the village; every mother peered out their doorways to see whose child was yelling so loudly. Kosuke ran through the village as fast as he could with his arm hanging limply at his side. Blood poured from a cut on his head and his legs were cut and bruised from falling so many times as he ran. He fell in the center of town and immediately a crowd gathered around him, his mother weeping from fear; there was so much blood.

"Kosuke what happened?"

"Where were you?"

"Where's Haru?"

The last voice was from Haru's mother. She knew the two of them had left together.

Kosuke weakly looked up at her and tears welled up in his eyes. He began speaking through pained sobs.

"We... we didn't know... There were demons,,, so many of them.. It was their territory... We didn't know..." The boy began crying uncontrollably. "We didn't know..."

The woman knelt down beside him, terrified. "Haru... Where's Haru, Kosuke? Please..."

The young boy looked at his friend's mother through tear-filled eyes. He didn't need to say the words; she already knew.

Suddenly a screech filled the air; the sky turned dark as the group of demons rushed into the village. Having tasted human blood a mere half hour ago, they wanted more.

... ... ... ... ...

Kaori wiped a tear from her eyes. "It didn't take them long to destroy almost everything in the village... Mama was outside when they arrived... She had gone out to see what had happened to Kosuke; she didn't want Hiro to see." she choked on her words. "But she didn't come back... Father took me and Hiro into the stable behind the house and we hid there. Father was the only one that left to get food... Hiro and I were always so worried he wouldn't come back... After three weeks of hiding, everything was quiet again... families were packing up and leaving. So Father gathered up the bare necessities and the two horses we had in the stable with us, and we left too.."

Shirrow's ears had drooped as he listened, his eyes focused on the ground. He couldn't even begin to imagine his mother being killed... having to leave home and starting anew. He was positive he wouldn't have to worry about it, there was no way his father would let anything happen to them. His thoughts drifted to six years ago when his wayward cousin had tried to kill him, his siblings and Kagome just to get the quarters of the jewel shard that were lying dormant in each of them. That had been the closest call for him so far... but even so, his father had protected them. They were all alive.

Kaori looked up at the sky and sighed, wiping her eyes. "That's the first time I've talked about that... Father doesn't like thinking about it... and he doesn't want Hiro to think about it..." she looked over at Shirrow. "I'm sorry."

The young half-demon was confused. "...For what?"

"I don't mean to vent... it's just... I..."

"Don't worry about it."

Kaori looked up at Shirrow. He had stood up and was right in front of her.

"Look... I'll listen to ya if you got somethin' to say.. So..." he blushed. "If you need to talk about somethin', I'm usually around... so.. yeah."

Kaori blushed too and they were silent.

"I... I should get going." She stood up and avoided his golden eyes. "Father's probably wondering where I am..." After taking a few steps, she turned to face the dog-eared boy again. "But... I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

Shirrow's ears perked up and he smirked through his blush. "Yeah."

She smiled a sweet smile and continued on her way.

... ... ... ... ...

When Shirrow arrived home, he was bombarded with questions about how his first day had gone. He wished he had stayed out longer to avoid the interrogation.

"Moooommm... It was FINE. I'm still alive, ain't I? He didn't try killin' me or nothin' and even if he did, I'da gotten away just fine." Shirrow stormed off and closed himself up in the room he shared with Kotaro. Kotaro was swiftly punted out of the room three seconds after the older demon's arrival. The younger brother's body toppled over into the hall as the door slammed shut. Kotaro immediately started to whine and scratch at the door.

"Shirrooowwww! It's my room too! You can't just kick me out!"

Kagome sighed and went back to preparing dinner with Nori who rolled her eyes. All they had wanted was the scoop on Shirrow's day...

InuYasha hadn't bothered interrogating his son, he knew it would end with him shutting himself up in his room to get away. "Feh.." He sighed and walked over to Kotaro who was still whining and scratching at the bedroom door.

"Alright, puppy, that's enough; don't ruin the door."

Kotaro looked up at his father with golden puppy-dog eyes. "But Daaaadddd... He won't-"

"But Dad nothin'..." InuYasha picked up his youngest son by the neck of his shirt and slung him over his shoulder. "Come on, let's leave 'im alone for a while."

"hmph."

InuYasha walked them out to the front yard and plopped Kotaro down on the grass. The boy quickly stood back up and followed after his father. The older demon smirked and leaped into the branches of a tree; it was far too high for his son to leap up to. He would have to climb or jump from branches on the other trees. Both would be difficult for the small boy.

Kotaro smiled. He knew his father was testing him. He jumped on to the lower branch of an adjacent tree and looked for another branch to jump to. He saw one and leaped, barely catching the branch with his feet and had to steady himself against the trunk of the tree. He was already a good 50 feet above ground. Demon or not, it would still hurt to fall. He continued leaping from one branch to the next, zig-zagging up to his father who was waiting patiently a couple of feet from the top. He was barely sweating by the time he got there, which was much better than InuYasha thought he would do.

"Hey you didn't even fall out of the tree this time, kiddo. Nice job." InuYasha smiled proudly at his son.

Kotaro stuck out his tongue playfully. "Well last time you were in a tree that was half dead and the branches broke when I jumped on 'em!"

"Hey, I told you to be careful last time, you just didn't listen." InuYasha smirked and stood on the branch, shaking it slightly causing Kotaro to grab hold of the trunk of the tree for support. "Now for the fun part, eh?"

Kotaro peered through the branches all the way to the ground and turned to glare at his father. "I'm not jumping from here! Are you nuts?"

"You won't get better at it if you don't practice, puppy." InuYasha stated matter-of-factly before stepping off the branch and gracefully landing on a branch on the adjacent tree about half way down, then again stepping off and gracefully landing on the ground. He looked back up at Kotaro. "C'mon, it'll be fine. I'm right here if you fall."

Kotaro gulped before standing unsteadily on the branch and stepping off. InuYasha watched for any signs of him not being in control of his fall. However, with raised eye brows he watched as his youngest copied his trail down the tree with ease, landing gracefully beside him. Kotaro smiled up at his father. InuYasha looked quizzically at him.

"Shirrow pushes me out of trees a lot."

"Ah." InuYasha smiled. "Practice makes perfect, huh?"

"Yeah.. you learn real fast when it's necessary to living..." Kotaro frowned. "Like when Shirrow threw me into the lake last year and I learned to swim."

InuYasha gave a crooked smile. "Yeah... But hey, as long as you learn and are alive at the end right?"

Kotaro furrowed his brow and continued frowning; he stuck out his tongue and was suddenly swept up and tickled mercilessly until he had turned as red as his and his father's clothes from lack of air. InuYasha just smiled as his son caught his breath, clinging to him and still giggling even though all tickling had stopped.

... ... ... ... ...

Shirrow stared up at the ceiling as he lay on his bed. Kotaro's giggles drifted into his ears; he threw his pillow at the door out of frustration. The giggles didn't stop, but he hadn't really expected them to. Everything about Kaori was frustrating him. Not only did he have to win over her father who clearly had a bug up his butt about demons right now because of the recent death of his wife... not to mention most everyone in his old village, but he'd made Kaori upset. He'd brought back bad memories.

_I can't hurt her again... But at least she's talking to me about stuff... she trusts me. That's good I guess. Damn, I need to talk to Mushin... He's better with all this girl crap than me._

Shirrow rolled onto his side and stared blankly at the bedside table between his and Kotaro's beds. There was a photo of the younger brother with Sakura. They were being goofs and were really close to the camera; you could hardly see the background in the photo. Shirrow sighed.

_Kotaro, you have no idea how lucky you are to have Sakura... I really hope they stay this close forever for his sake... He really is lucky though... I mean, what if Mushin had been a girl and Sakura had been a boy? Our roles would be switched and he'd be the one with no girl... _A smile spread across Shirrow's face as he imagined Musin as a girl. _Although, I don't think I'd be much luckier in that case... Mushin ain't the prettiest girl at the ball. hahaha..._

_Either way... I have to keep with it. She's the one.. I know it. _

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_Heyyyy check it out! Two chapters within a few days of each other! I'm back in the swing of things, eh? :)_

_Don't forget to review!_

_~lil'Japanime~  
_


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